After military service in India, where he had introduced steam-driven road transport, Crompton in 1875 became a partner in an engineering firm at Chelmsford, Essex, and soon broadened its activity to the construction of dynamos and arc lamps and the installation of lighting apparatus. In 1878 he invented an arc lamp with an overhead support mechanism to reduce shadow; previous lamps had been constructed with the support mechanism below the electrodes, producing noticeable shadows.

Crompton is best known for his lighting installations. It is claimed that his house in Porchester Gardens was the first private residence effectively supplied with electric light (1879). He also lit the Law Courts, Buckingham Palace, and the Vienna Opera House and installed one of the first power-supply stations at Kensington Court, London (1886). He advocated the use of direct current for distribution systems, in contrast to the alternating current promoted by Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti, which was later adopted generally.

Crompton was also interested in road transportation. He had built a steam-driven road engine as early as 1860 and designed an armoured “landship” during World War I that was a forerunner of the military tank.

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